Best Of Friends
by nekonohime
Summary: A recollection of how Felix met Ralph as a child, and how he created a lifelong bond with him. Oneshot.


I remember it like it was yesterday.

The first time that we ever saw each other.

Golly, it has been such a long time.

We were so young back then.

Anyway, I was on the playground at the park as usual, playing with my friends at the time. We would usually play ball with each other until our parents called for us to come back home. It was our favorite thing to do, day in and day out.

However, all that changed one day, when something happened to disrupt the normalcy.

I walked to the playground by myself that day because Dad wanted me to do some chores before I could go out. When I got there, I noticed that my friends weren't in our usual spot where we played ball. I looked all around for them, but I couldn't figure out where they went. I eventually gave up and was about to head home.

That is, until I started to hear voices.

I went over to investigate the source of the sound, and what I saw shocked me. My friends were all huddled around in a circle around something, but I wasn't sure of what at first. I walked up closer to what was going on, and I could see that they were laughing and pointing at whatever they were cornering.

"Look at this freak!"

"Don't get too close! He might eat you!"

"HE'S HUGE!"

"BIG AS A HOUSE!"

"Haha, look at his hands! They're so freaky looking!"

I peered over the group of kids to see the source of this jeering- A large boy with ginger hair and brown overalls was sitting on the ground hugging his knees close to his chest. I could see tears coming out of his honey colored eyes and his body heaving as he wailed loudly. My friends were clearly bullying him, and seeing all this started to make me become very angry. I mustered up all the courage I could and shouted, "Leave him alone!"

The leader of the group, Gene, turned to me and said, "Do you know what he did, Felix?"

I cocked my head to the side and answered, "No."

"We were waiting for you to finish doing your chores", Mary, another friend of mine, added. She then pointed to the redhead and shouted, "But this boy came out of the woods and scared us!"

"He tried to hurt us with his big hands!" The other girl, Deanna, shouted.

The boy was still struggling to breathe after crying so much, and all he could squeak out was, "That's not true!"

I noticed that on the ground next to him that there were some wildflowers that looked like they were trampled to death. I couldn't help but feel a wave of heat in my face as tears tried to well up in my eyes. I began to feel a lot of sympathy for him. I began to walk over to him to get his side of the story, but Gene and the others stepped in between us.

"Don't get near him, Felix!" He demanded, "You don't know what he'll do to you!"

I nudged him off to the side and said, "I just want to hear from him about what happened."

"Fine!" Gene huffed, "But don't say I didn't warn you!"

I finally kneeled down next to the other boy. He looked up at me with his wet eyes, still holding his knees close to his body. I gently put my hand on his shoulder and said to him, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna make fun of you. My dad says that's not nice. I just want to know what my friends did to you."

He sniffled and replied, "I-I... I was picking flowers in the forest clearing over there."

The boy pointed his large finger to the forest entrance behind us, and I could see a patch of wildflowers growing around the trees there. He turned back to me and continued giving his testimony.

"I was going to give them to my Mama, since she loves flowers. When I was walking away to try to get home, your friends stopped me and started shouting at me. They said I was interrupting their game... I tried to get out of their way, but they kept making fun of me."

His lips started to quiver as he picked up the wilted flowers in his hands. Most of the petals had been ripped off and the stems dropped in a sickly manner. Tears streamed from his eyes as he cried, "T-They... T-T-They took Mama's flowers and stomped on them!"

I shot a angry look back at Gene, Mary and Deanna. I was so upset with them at this point that I almost lost my temper at them. I can't believe that they hurt this innocent little boy trying to give flowers to his mother! It almost made me sick.

"You should be ashamed!" I said sternly, "All he wanted to do was give flowers to his mom..."

All my friends could do was just stand there, until eventually they took off running, thinking I was going to tell my dad on them. I looked at the other boy again, who was still crying over the destroyed flowers. Even though he was a total stranger, I couldn't help but put my arms around him and hug him tightly. There was something about him that told me that he was something special.

"I'm sorry about what my friends did to you", I reassured him, "I'll make sure that they won't try to hurt you ever again!"

He let go of me and asked, "R-Really?"

"Uh huh!" I answered with a cheerful face, "My dad says that it's our duty to help people in need!"

For the first time since I first saw him, the larger boy smiled, showing his gaped front teeth. "Well you sure help me today, um... I'm sorry, but I don't know your name."

"I'm Fix-It Felix Jr.!" I declared, "But everybody just calls me Felix! My dad repairs things that need fixing, and I'm gonna grow up to be just like him!"

I did the best impression of Dad that I could and announced, "I CAN FIX IT!"

The other boy laughed and responded, "Wow, that's really cool!"

"What's your name?" I asked him back, "I don't think I've seen you around before."

"Ralph", He said, "But all the bullies around here call me Wreck-It Ralph. Everyone thinks that all I can do is wreck things. They say that I ruin everything."

"Why do they say that?" I asked.

"If you haven't noticed already", Ralph answered, "I'm kind of... Bigger than the other kids around here, and I get made fun of for it. I'm also clumsy, and I get into a lot of accidents."

He then showed me his hands and added, "And my hands are really big. Everyone makes fun of me for that too."

"Don't worry about what other people say about you", I said, "My dad says that people like to say things to hurt other people, and you can't take what they say seriously."

I smiled at him again and said, "People should learn to just like you for you!"

"Really?" Ralph asked curiously.

"Yeah!" I replied cheerfully.

I began to notice Ralph relax a lot more after talking to me. He was starting to trust me a lot more at this point, and we talked and laughed as we walked through the park together. In that short amount of time, we started to grow really close to one another. I thought that Gene and the others were close friends to me, but by then, Ralph started to become an even dearer friend. He was so kind and gentle, and it was sad that nobody else could see it or understand it but me. Ralph and I spent the rest of the day together just playing on the playground and doing what best friends do.

Sunset began to arrive, and it was almost time for me to go home. I always knew that if I came home after sunset, Dad would fuss at me and give me a good ol' whoopin'.

"I'm sorry, Ralph", I said sadly, "But I have to go home now."

Ralph looked at me with the saddest eyes I had ever seen in my entire life. They were filled with loneliness and abandonment.

"I'll be able to play with you again tomorrow, right?" He asked. "I've had other kids promise me that they would be my friend..."

He started to cry again and whimpered, "B-But they ended up lying to me. They didn't want to be my friend anymore."

I hugged him again and said, "Ralph, I promise that I won't do that to you. After meeting you today... You're now my best friend."

Ralph hiccuped. "A-And you're my best friend too, Felix."

We were silent for a bit as we hugged, except for the sound of Ralph's shaky breathing from his crying.

"... D-Do you think... That we'll be friends forever, Felix?"

"Yeah", I said softly, "Forever."

That was a promise that I ended up shattering into a million pieces.


End file.
